Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Revisited: Policing Interwar Bulgaria

Abstract

This chapter seeks to examine the role of the Bulgarian police as a distinct node within the administrative structure of the modern Bulgarian State. During the interwar period, the practice of statecraft in the Kingdom of Bulgaria was shaped by three overlapping factors. The first of these was the accelerated process of modernization and industrialization, characteristic not only of Bulgaria but also of most of the Balkan states. Secondly, Bulgaria pursued a revisionist foreign policy and had allied itself with the Central Powers during the First World War in an effort to expand its borders at the expense of its neighbors. Defeat in the war not only temporarily thwarted Bulgaria’s territorial ambitions, but also brought with it social dislocation and an eroded sense of legitimacy, providing opportunity and impetus to the opponents of the existing regime. Finally, this cracking of the foundation of the constitutional monarchy corresponded with the emergence of radical ideologies on both the Left and the Right, fostering increased levels of unrest and political polarization. The uncertain future of the Bulgarian monarchy transformed the Bulgarian police from a professional body, with a relatively high quality of administrative and crimi-nological capabilities, into the instrument of an increasingly dictatorial right-wing regime.